Countdown to Innovation: The Starliner's Journey Towards the Stars

Every detail of the multi-billion dollar ballet that is human spaceflight must be perfectly executed for space exploration to thrive. In the age of human spaceflight, it’s hard to ignore the news that Boeing’s commercial Starliner spacecraft test flight was put on pause two days before its planned departure on 20 November 2019. With this event, the world has been confronted with just how monumental and challenging the journey to space can be in our new era of space travel. The story of the Starliner’s journey to the stars personifies the promise and challenge of human spaceflight in our present moment.

The Dream Deferred: A Technical Hold

It was a Friday, and the countdown for the liftoff of an Atlas V rocket had been halted, in the last minute-and-a-half, by an automatic hold initiated by the rocket’s computer. With less than four minutes to go, it was still too early for the full-scale hold, so the rocket simulated the delay and waited for a launch director’s approval to lift off from Florida’s Cape Canaveral with the Starliner spacecraft, whose first foray into crewed space travel was about to begin. Two astronauts, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, were waiting for the command to lock themselves inside the capsule. This was a moment so anticipated by stargazers and engineers alike.

The Technical Glitch: A Closer Look

The countdown halt had something to do with a problem with a ground computer, that is, a critical cog in the ritualised dance that precedes a spacecraft launch. Initial investigations point to a boot-up problem with a card inside one of three computers that control the final countdown sequence. This problem — technical in nature, and part of the elaborate set of precautions that make spaceflight possible — illustrates how many guardrails we use to protect astronauts and ensure mission success.

Unraveling the Digital Knot

The technician pressed the hold button, and then started tracing through the thicket of hardware and software that comprises the launch control system. He hoped that something simple would unlock the IC, an air-conditioning part that might start misbehaving, or a computer card that could be replaced. He hoped to get off the pad before the next launch opportunity. But the complexity of the work meant that he had to do more investigating before the next launch window.

The Astronauts' Odyssey: Patience and Professionalism

The astronauts Wilmore and Williams aboard the Starliner showed uncommon professionalism and fortitude. The mission – after years of preparing for it – is part the necessary human spirit that will get us all the way to the stars. Those challenges are part of our ascent, handled by experience and patience and attention to safety.

Charting a New Course

The team will continue to improve their strategy for each launch attempt, learning from, and adapting to, the complicated nature of space travel. The spacecraft will ultimately zoom into the ISS on a very tangible step in the future of commercial spaceflight; it represents a new path for human exploration and habitation beyond Earth.

The Road Ahead: A Beacon of Progress

The crewless first Starliner test flight – once it occurs – will prove Boeing’s ability to deliver astronauts to and from the ISS, but it will also reinforce humankind’s driving need to venture into the Cosmic Wild West. Working in partnership with NASA, Boeing’s Starliner will one day join SpaceX’s Crew Dragon to bring in a new age of space travel where public-private partnerships take humans deeper into space than ever before.

Reflecting on the Legacy of Pad and Progress

The Starliner’s journey – particularly the trials it endured – offers a powerful epilogue for the pad, a site of human triumph denoting the potential we hold as we look to the stars. For how long these pads we stand on will be the focus of human spaceflight missions is unknown, but the legacy of the pads and the missions they ignite will surely inspire future generations to think big and look far into the night to the stars.

Exploring the Essence of PAD

The ‘pad’ is where rockets take off for the stars; it’s at once a literal site of liftoff and a metaphoric place of human aspiration, dream, and discovery. As inner and outer horizons expand, the pad will remain our common ground, where we learn from the stars – wherever they may lead. For now, the Starliner will have to fly another day, as will the pad from which it will one day fly into space. They are stories of technical hurdles and failures, but also of triumph and human determination in the face of adversity. The journey has only just begun, but it captures everything that makes us human. The pad is all that remains from the past, but it is also a representation of all we hold in store for the future.